Creation Science Rebuttals
Answers Magazine
Beneath the Cross
Volume 4, Issue 2 (Apr-Jun 2009)
Review by Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
The daily feature from the Answers in Genesis website for 29 March 2009 highlighted an Answers Magazine article by Andrew Snelling of Answers in Genesis. This short article explained that the rocks upon which the cross of Jesus sat consisted of hard limestone layers, known as the Judea Group, and these were topped by the chalk beds of the Mount Scopus Group1
Snelling explains that these layers are fossil graveyards, and were deposited during the global flood of Noah. Snelling concludes that "Jesus's body was surrounded by the remains of dead creatures that had earlier suffered from God's judgment during the catastrophic, global Flood.
Although this is a nice, touching article for young earth creationists, Snelling's claim does not hold up when you consider the science involved. This is not the first time that Snelling has made a claim that had to do with a chalk layer. The article on this website titled Can Noah's Flood Make Any Chalk Beds addresses an earlier claim by Snelling that Noah's Flood could produce layers of chalk. For a full discussion of this issue, see the article.
To summarize the problem, chalk forms in calm ocean environments, where the influx of continental sediment is non-existent. It also forms very slowly, normally a few inches of sediment per 1,000 years. Snelling tries to solve this problem by stating that the organisms can enter a period of rapid formation, which he calls 'blooms.'
However, a young earth creationist study by Baumgardner and Barnette shows that a globe full of water yields ocean currents that vary from 89 to 179 miles per hour.2 Since chalk forms in calm, placid shelf environments, these currents would prevent chalk formation. In addition, these currents would bring in continental sediment, thus preventing pure chalk layers from forming.
Although Snelling's sight-picture is nice, it is not accurate scientifically. The organisms that died in the chalk could not have been formed during the Flood. The chalks of the Mount Scopus Group are Upper Cretaceous in age, ranging from 89.9 to 65 million years old.3
1 Beneath the Cross, by Andrew Snelling, Answers Magazine, V4, N2, Apr-Jun 2009. Page 78.
2 https://www.icr.org/article/ocean-circulation-noahs-flood
3 Stratigraphy of the Jerusalem area
If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.
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